Species: Romulans
Romulans are a race of humanoids that herald from the planet Romulus, the capital of the Romulan Star Empire. They physically look similar to humans in all but a few ways, most noticeable of these being they have pointed ears and a slight green pigment to their skin, as a result of their green blood. They are stronger and more hardy than a Human, but not as much as a Sangheili, Jiralhanae or Krogan. History and Society Romulan history is shrouded in mystery, due to their isolationist and xenophobic attitudes. Contact with the Romulan government is rare, and as such Romulan society has developed to believe that they are inherently superior to all other sentient life in the universe. First contact with other species usually goes off without any problems, as long as that contact does not happen within their borders. If it does happen within Romulan space, the ships tend to be found later on as nothing more than a cloud of debris drifting through space. Aliens are not permitted to live within Romulan space as equal citizens, many of the non-Romulans are subject to forced labour, some are fortunate to avoid such lives but tend to end up as the personal playthings of wealthy and notable Romulans. Occasionally 'half-breeds' may occur as a result of this, they tend to receive the same level of mistreatment as other aliens, however due to their part Romulan blood, they tend to forgo forced labour, usually permitted to live out of sight of mainstream society, or as part of the military. Romulan society is atheist, authoritarian and militarist. Deviation form the normality of Romulan society is frowned upon and offenders usually end up falling victim to the secret police, the Tal Shair, never to be seen again as they live out the rest of their days in work camps or on penal colonies. Expansionism does not conform to normal Romulan attitudes, after all it brings in more aliens into their borders, however they have on occasion been known to expand where it provides an advantage they cannot find elsewhere within their own borders. Romulan citizens and military are permitted to come and go across the border as they wish to go find work or gather intelligence, it is typically through these Romulans that first contact is made. Technology Romulan technology is advanced, their civilian tech being close to utopian, their military tech is reflective of their ways of fighting war, fast, hard and quietly. Romulan handheld weapons, know as 'Disruptors' fire beams and/or bolts of green energy, which when overcharged can disintegrate an unshielded target on impact, this works as a result of the projectiles is fires destabilising and disrupting molecular bonds, breaking the target down at the molecular level. Personal cloaking devices are also occasionally implemented to specialised operatives of the navy or the Tal Shiar, these work much like Sangheili stealth tech, however it maintains it's effectiveness during movement at the cost of the use of shielding. Romulan starships, called 'warbirds', each come equipped with distruptor beams, turrets and cannons as well as plasma torpedoes for their armament, shielding units to add extra protection over their ships duranium-A hull plating, cloaking devices that work in the same way as their smaller counterparts, transporters and warp drive powered by a singularity core. Their weapons, similar to the UNSC are arranged primarily in a forward facing manner, with only the turrets able to provide a 360 degree arc of fire about them. Their are four varieties of Romulan warbird, T'Liss-class light escort, Mogai-class heavy escort, D'deridex-class cruiser, and Tulwar-class dreadnought. Each vessel as it gets larger, gains more weapons and shielding, but loses out on maximum speed and manoeuvrability. They do not use carrier craft, only the Tulwar-class is equipped to carry fighters in small quantity, usually used to repel boarders. Shuttle-craft are used for travelling short distances, every vessel in the Romulan navy, aside from the T'Liss, is equipped with the capacity to carry them. As these are primarily used as transport craft they are not armed for combat, instead using a single forward cannon and aft turret for its defensive armament. When in a tight situation, a shuttle will usually disable its shields and cloak, or use its transporter to evac its occupants to the nearest friendly vessel, or to an enemy vessel if they are feeling confident.